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Someone has said something offensive online.
You could remove them (or their post).
You could retort, try to offend them back, and get others to join in mocking them?
Or you could drop them a quiet line and explain “although you understand they didn’t mean to offend, some people are upset by what was posted because [reason]”
Building internal support begins with: “I want to do this thing, will you help me?”
Building an internal alliance begins with: “What are you trying to achieve? How can I help?”
Too many people try to build internal support when they should build internal alliances.
Support is difficult to gain and can quickly evaporate as priorities shift.
Should you use tagging or categories to display content?
We’ve been debating this in our FeverBee Experts community.
Categorizing is easier for the member posting the question, tagging is better for members reading it.
Categorizing is an existing habit. Members already do it and are used to it.
Tagging allows for more flexibility. For example, we have areas for getting started, metrics, engagement, and platforms (below):
We’re looking for one or two people to create a snapshot of useful news and articles for community experts to read.
If you think you can help (and want to run the recommended reading section of our community), click here.
You might find yourself setting the agenda for thousands in the community sector.
The more people who help create an artefact, the more people are likely to share it.
The more it’s shared, the more people are likely to join and help build the next artefact.
Communities aren’t never-ending streams of discussions. They are places to use the collective knowledge, passion, and resources of members to build things that help every member.
Understand most people are attracted to success.
Almost nobody wants to be in the group at the beginning.
Why would they? There isn’t much there. Just a few discussions, no sense of community, and no track record of doing amazing things.
“Our top members have drifted away, but I’m hoping after [take action] they will come back sharing knowledge again”
I’ll predict that won’t happen.
Moz had this problem too. Top SEO talent used to love participating in the community. The top members built a strong following and launched their own blogs/communities.
An interesting paper to note:
Contrary to the theory of reciprocity, and in line with predictions by the bystander effect, we found that receiving high quality answers negatively influenced new knowledge seekers’ future likelihood of knowledge contribution.
Consistent with the social exchange theory, receiving high quality answers positively affected newcomers’ future knowledge seeking behaviors. Social responses (votes to the new members’ questions) were found to have strong positive effects on both newcomers’ future knowledge contribution and seeking behaviors.
Building and nurturing a powerful group of insiders is going to be a critical part of your job.
The challenge is to identify, nurture, and retain top members. These are the people who will answer every question, welcome new members, and put their soul into the community.
